Human
by MrsPuppetEx
Summary: The return of my weekly song-fics brings us the story of what happens to Lucy after Fairy Tail disbands one final time... /M-Rating for triggers/Suicide warning/dark themes/Owned by Hiro Mashima/
1. Chapter 1

**A/N;** _I wrote this story inspired by the song "Human" by Krewella. It is a tragedy so be prepared to cry...  
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 _ **Enjoy, my delicate marionettes!**_

 _ **~ MrsPuppetEx**_

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Lucy wiped away her tears as she walked out of the guild that she'd once called home, her head hung low with her sunny hair shadowing her tear-filled eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself for some semblance of comfort as her heart clenched harshly in her chest.

Three years. She'd spent three years, technically ten, with Fairy Tail. Now it was all over after everything had happened.

Natsu had left to go train the week before, only leaving behind a note for her to find. That had caused a chain of events making half the guild leave to do their own things, none thinking about how it would affect the poor blonde who was left behind.

She walked the long path home, using the time to let her mind flicker back to the people she'd grown so close to over the years. She could practically see each of their smiling faces before her, encouraging and protecting her in their own ways.

Erza and her big sister attitude towards her, scaring off any would-be suitors that were unwelcomed in the blonde's life as she was focused entirely on the guild. Always strong enough to face anything thrown her way and pushing Lucy to keep the shining confidence that had only emerged when she'd come to Fairy Tail.

Gray and his cocky attitude, the first man to treat her like the grown woman she was and fast becoming her first love before that fire had been smothered by their sibling-like feelings for one another. It was a fling that had ended as soon as it had begun, to neither of their disappointment as they truly worked better as brother and sister.

Lucy frowned, her brow creasing as she thought about the last human member of her team, the thought of his name alone bringing that uncomfortable clenching back into her chest that she subconsciously reached up to rub at with the palm of her hand.

Natsu. He was her best friend, her first real friend that she'd made after leaving the Konzern and struck out on her own to become a guild mage. He'd been the one to bring her to Fairy Tail all those years ago and had shown her that life could be much more fun than going to parties and running a business. He was simply Natsu.

And now he was gone.

Tears formed in her brown orbs once more as she made her way through town and wrapped her arms around herself protectively against the pain that flooded into her heart. She hadn't experienced this sharp of a pain since her mother had died and it was devastating, nearly making her sob as she picked up the pace to get home before one of the locals tried to stop her to chat.

Lucy wasn't sure she would be able to speak to anyone right now, honestly. She was hurting so bad from the events of the past week since Natsu had left, with the announcement only a half an hour ago being the finishing blow on her already fragile heart.

She made it to her apartment and quickly closed and locked the door before pressing her back to the wood surface and sliding down until she sat on the hardwood floors. The blonde took a moment to close her eyes and drink in the memories she'd made with her friends in this place, everything that had happened there when they'd been a team.

That was what made the first heart wrenching sob escape her lips as she bit her finger to try and not make the landlady too frustrated by the noise. The memories of this place were far too much for her to bear and it felt like a knife straight to her heart as she cried on the floor with her back pressed to the door as if it would keep anymore heartache out.

So many times she'd had the team over unexpectedly, but not unwanted as she had enjoyed every memory they'd made together, no matter how small or insignificant. Everything that they had done together had made a mark on her heart and now, it was all over.

Lucy picked herself up off of the floor, wandering through the apartment with a sniffle with her arms wrapped around herself once more. She smiled as she looked at her apartment, the past replaying in her mind as if it were happening before her trembling form.

Natsu freaking her out as she'd exited the shower and seen him doing sit-ups on her floor and telling her that he needed a place to exercise. He'd looked so goofy with his scarf wrapped around his forehead and so serious when he'd said that.

She'd shown him her magic when she had summoned Plue for the first time to make her contract, the small dog spirit shaking as Natsu stared at him intently. It had been the greatest honor she could bestow upon the slayer as making a contract was a very intimate thing between a Celestial mage and her spirits.

Lucy had loved that day.

The couch where the whole team had spent hours upon hours just sitting around and watching movies together or lounging around talking about nothing and everything. They would go over their recent missions there, in the small living area, determining that it was more comfortable than at the guild where others could be judgmental of their destructive tendencies.

The thought made Lucy release a watery laugh as she continued on through to the dining room where she had fed her team too many times to count. Plates piled high for Natsu, a large fish for Happy, cake for Erza, and whatever else she had for Gray. They had been a handful to feed, but she had always insisted on it if they were doing more work on jobs than she was actually doing.

Natsu had once set her kitchen on fire, she remembered on a slight sigh. It was her birthday and he was trying to make her breakfast on his own, a sweet intention that was easily turned sour as he had turned the flames up too high and it had caught a towel on fire.

Luckily he'd been able to devour the flames before causing any serious damage, Lucy smiled as she traced a finger over the faint burn mark on her cupboard. It could have been much, much worse than it had been, honestly.

The bathroom, where Natsu and Gray had both walked in on her many times as she was washing away the grime from one of their many jobs. She had eventually just stopped closing the door, allowing one of them to easily sit and talk to her as she washed up, her previous shyness gone with the straightforward group.

And, finally, the bedroom.

Lucy let out a sigh as she saw Natsu sleeping on her bed, snuggled up to her and causing her to sweat in her sleep while uncomfortably warm. Or, Gray doing the same and making her teeth chatter from the bitter cold. Erza going through her underwear drawer and holding up pieces that gave both boys nosebleeds while Lucy shrieked in surprise.

She grasped the frame that had been given to her by the whole team that past Christmas. It was a framed photo of them just after they had returned from Tenrou Island. They all looked so happy. A tear slid down her cheek that she brushed away quickly, running her fingers over each face of her team.

After setting the photo down, Lucy walked around her apartment once more, looking at everything as the sun began to set and cast everything in a burning orange glow. She saw the happiness and excitement that had happened here, in her home.

All of the sadness, even. They'd comforted her after the whole Phantom Lord incident here, held her as she had cried over the loss of her father who had come to realize his mistake after their time jump. They had all listened intently as she had told them about the sacrifice of Aquarius within the Cube to save them all.

Many nights, she'd lain curled up in the arms of one or all of her teammates as she'd woken up with nightmares about losing Aqua or the mad cackling of Jackal. They had all comforted her by allowing her to cry and then each did something different to help her in their own ways.

Erza would share a strawberry cake with her and they would watch one of those soppy romance movies that the redhead had loved so much. Gray would simply hold her and let her sit in silence, giving the blonde a chance to sort through her thoughts and listening if she wanted to talk. Natsu, always the odd one out, would tell her something like he was hungry and that he wanted her to make him something.

All of that was over, she thought bitterly as she picked up the framed photo on her desk once more, grasping it tightly. They had all left her alone, to deal with the loss of the guild all on her own with no one to lean on in her time of need.

Giving a shriek of rage, Lucy threw the picture frame at the far wall, smiling in grim satisfaction as the glass shattered and the wood splintered into small pieces. She continued on her rampage, sweeping her arm across the desk and sending the small tokens from numerous jobs falling to the floor where they broke helplessly.

Lucy grabbed a ball from their win at the inter-guild baseball game, the one she'd managed to hit to score the winning run on Sabertooth as it had flown over Sting's head. Letting her anger fly, she threw the ball at a bookshelf, destroying the vase that Erza had bought her at their third trip to Akane Resort.

After finishing in the bedroom, Lucy moved to the living room where she grabbed the piece of Nevermelt-Ice that Gray had fashioned into a star for her. It felt freezing in her hand as she looked down at it with dead eyes.

With a grunt, she threw it down onto the hardwood floor and watched as it split into hundreds of pieces, each one flying around the room and hitting other objects. It was somewhat symbolic of how one of them had caused a domino effect by leaving the guild and being the root of the situation she was currently in.

As her anger wore thin, Lucy collapsed on the ground, clutching her chest as she screamed out her pain and agony, no longer worried about what the landlady thought. She felt as though her heart were being ripped from her chest and knew she deserved to be upset about it.

And so, Lucy cried herself to sleep on the cold wood floors of her living room, the broken remnants of her past scattered about the apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

Her depression had grown over the next few months, causing Lucy to go through some drastic changes. She'd sold her apartment, keeping nothing except her keys, whip, box of letters to her mother, and the clothes on her back.

It had hurt to lose some of the things she'd collected over the years, but it hurt her far more to see them all. They stood as reminders of what she'd lost with Fairy Tail, something she never wanted to remember for the rest of her life as she struggled to move on.

That task was proving extremely difficult as she screamed herself awake from another nightmare that night, causing the blonde to roll over in her new bed in the apartment she now rented in the center of Crocus. She had gotten a job with Sorcerer's Weekly, though it really wasn't what she wanted to do with her life, and had made the move only the day after Fairy Tail's disbandment.

Lucy sat up in bed after a moment and decided she needed some air as she slipped on some shoes and left her apartment in a mindless daze in the dead of night, leaving her beloved keys on the table next to her bed.

She wandered around for a while, walking aimlessly around the dead streets of the usually bustling capitol city. Her eyes were nearly unseeing as she replayed the nightmare in her mind and remembered her friends, her family, deserting her.

She wound up atop the bell tower of the cathedral in the center of the city, the wind whipping her hair as she overlooked Crocus in all it's beauty. And it truly was beautiful with all it's flowers lit up by glowing lacrama streetlights and the organized chaos of the winding roads that made up the city.

Tears began to fall as she wondered if any of her old friends were in the city, if any of them were even nearby. Then she thought about whether they ever gave her a passing thought, maybe wondering what had happen to their supposed 'Light'. Did they ever truly care?

Lucy sighed heavily, sitting down with her feet dangling out over the long drop to the ground below her. Brown eyes that used to sparkle were now dull and muddied, showing no hope, no happiness, no emotions as they looked out over the sprawling city.

She knew the view was beautiful, but she didn't see it, not really. She couldn't allow herself to truly appreciate anything these days, not even food as she'd slowly stopped eating, her stomach refusing to hold anything more than a few sips of water.

As such, she had lost a lot of weight. Her once full figure was becoming hollow and sickly looking, her cheeks sinking in and her eyes seeming to bulge slightly through the effects of malnutrition. It was something that would make her old family tear up just from seeing the numb look on her face, let alone how gaunt she looked.

But they weren't here anymore, Lucy thought dryly.

Fairy Tail had disbanded and, with it, her heart had been ripped from her chest in one smooth motion, leaving her abandoned and alone. She didn't know very much about the world outside of the guild, having only been out of the Konzern for a year before she'd met Natsu and been brought back to the guild.

No, she knew nothing of the world outside of the active guild. It was almost like she was a prisoner who was finally, at long last, set free. The thought made Lucy laugh humorlessly at her own joke, knowing just how ironic that was considering she'd spent the last few years putting many criminals into prison herself.

Lucy sighed heavily as she looked to the ground below her.

How easy it would be to simply throw herself from the edge and let herself splatter on the pavement in the middle of the night. Would any of her old guild care? Maybe, if they even heard about it, she thought.

Would they show up for her funeral? That was a question she highly doubted at this point in time, honestly. They had left her alone, by herself in the big, open world. Why would any of her old friends worry about her enough to show up to her funeral?

She gave a derisive snort to herself at the idea, no, they wouldn't come.

More tears trickled down her cheeks as she thought of her spirits. Sure, they would miss her but they lived for centuries, they would eventually stop grieving her loss as they had any other human friends they may have had over their long lifespans.

They may end up with worse mages than she was, but it was already in legal documentation that should something happen to her at any point in time, then her keys would automatically be handed over to Yukino, having entrusted them to her care.

That was someone who may miss her if she went through with the idea running through her mind right then. Yukino would likely miss her a bit, though she had Sting to help her through it, which was more than Lucy had as she grieved the loss of Fairy Tail.

She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself more to guard against the ache in her chest rather than the cold wind that swept through. Sniffling a bit, Lucy wiped away her tears harshly. She really needed someone she could lean on…

Someone like those within the guild used to be, the blonde thought on a sigh that had a cloud of white floating out in front of her face.

She watched the vapor dance in the air in a swirling mass that seemed slightly beautiful before another gust of wind swept through and swept it all away, leaving no trace left behind that the small cloud had been there to begin with.

Lucy frowned, the corners of her mouth turning downwards as she thought about the irony of what had just happened. The cloud was nearly like she was within Fairy Tail- moving, happy, alive- before something quickly came through and tore that down.

Just like the wind destroying the cloud, the disbandment of her guild had destroyed her- mind, body, and soul. It had broken her down to the most tragic of creatures that could only mope and blindly move about, only prolonging the inevitable.

In many ways, she was just like the cloud. She still moved in that nearly controlled, yet chaotic, state, going about her life as though she could do nothing more than that simple, everyday task, which was nearly true as she could barely eat, sleeping being a fitful chore as she often woke up with nightmares just as she'd done that night.

Bathing was the one thing that actually didn't feel like a chore, something she still took the time out of each and every day to enjoy. It allowed her to just get away from it all and clear her mind as she sat in the water that was her only connection with Aquarius.

Lucy felt fresh tears dribble down her cheek as she thought of Aqua. The temperamental mermaid was her first real friend and had helped her when she was at her darkest hour- before now, anyways. She'd been the one who would tell Lucy that she needed to tough shit out.

But Lucy didn't have the spirit anymore, with only the other spirits, namely Scorpio, to carry small messages back and forth between the two. It hurt Lucy more than she would say to anyone, even her spirits, when she'd lost Aquarius during the battle with Tartaros. She'd been destroyed emotionally then, too.

But, then again, she'd had her friends to help her get through it all.

Lucy couldn't remember the last time she'd summoned one of her spirits, was it a month ago? Two? It all seemed like a blur as she'd forced Loke's gate shut one day when he'd walked in on her doing something unspeakable to herself.

The lion spirit had erupted in anger which had triggered Lucy herself to explode at him and they'd said some pretty harsh things to each other- mainly her saying awful things to the faithful spirit, which she deeply regretted.

Lucy wondered in her mind if he would listen to her if she summoned him, if he would even think about forgiving her for the things that she'd shouted at him that day. It wasn't the first fight that they'd had, especially after Aqua had been sacrificed.

A slender hand reached up to toy with the broken key she kept on a cord around her neck, brushing against the cold metal gently. It was all she had left of the bluenette, the only thing that could make her feel that the spirit might still be there with her.

She shook her head, realizing that she had been foolish to think that no one would miss her if she did this. There were her spirits and some humans who would feel the pain of her leaving, something she didn't want to inflict onto them as she had felt so alone while she knew very well that she need only summon a spirit to be surrounded by friendship and love.

No, Lucy wouldn't do anything like this tonight. She would toughen up, quit her job at Sorcerer's Weekly, maybe go to Sabertooth and accept their offer of joining them. That would be a wonderful plan, to join a new guild and let the past dissipate in the wind like that cloud of air had.

The blonde turned, taking a step towards the stairwell that led back down the tower so that she could go home and get warm before beginning the long task of fixing everything the past couple months that she'd ruined, starting with summoning Loke.

A heavy gust of wind swept through, knocking the malnourished girl off balance. Her eyes went wide as she began to tumble backwards, fingers reaching out to grasp the railing just in front of her, a small gasp of surprise leaving her mouth.

And she freefell down, to the cold concrete below, her screams echoing through the sleeping city with no one to stop her plight.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N;** _Here we have the dramatic conclusion to this story! I literally sobbed while writing this part and I hope you all get the feels from it, too!  
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 ** _I hope you enjoyed, my delicate marionettes!  
~ MrsPuppetEx_**

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Cobra stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked, his single violet eye narrowed as he thought about what Jellal had told him. The damn blueberry was too fucking observant for his liking, knowing exactly why the slayer was on edge the past three months, especially after seeing the sword happy psychopath show up without the bubbly blonde with her.

She'd told them about the disbandment of Fairy Tail and how everyone had gone their separate ways. The beginning of a new era, she'd called it as she had smiled that disgustingly sweet smile at her gushing blue haired counterpart.

Cobra couldn't help but ask about the blonde, the one whose face had kept him awake at night more times than he'd care to admit. Her smiling face and bright chocolate colored eyes filling his dreams as he heard the glorious symphony that was her soul. It was his favorite sound, which was saying something when speaking to someone with sound magic.

What had the redhead said? Oh, right. Lucy was better off without the guild because she wouldn't have them holding her back from improvement by coddling her any longer.

What a crock of shit that was, Cobra thought grimly as he walked along the streets of Crocus in his irritable state. That was a lame excuse used to abandon someone who very obviously needed those precious few that had wormed their way into the Stellar Mage's heart that, similar to her magic, was held under lock and key.

The slayer turned down another street, silently hoping he would hear the blonde's soul and that perfectly tuned orchestra once again. It was the reason he was in this windy as fuck city, risking everything by even being within the walls of the capitol when he was a wanted man.

You see, Cobra had taken a long time himself to admit he needed someone, desperately. He couldn't help that the blonde filled his every thought, even when he was bombarded with sounds, as he was now, in this very moment.

Her orchestra had resonated with him from the moment he'd first laid eyes upon her, had made him want to rip her out of that godforsaken clock and run off with her far away from Midnight, barbarian-style. It had taken everything in his power not to do just that, honestly, as he'd forced himself to walk away from her and attempted to tune out the heart wrenching harmony that was her soul as she'd cried out in fear.

He could finally admit to himself what she was to him, had heard within the Salamander's soul that he was hoping the blonde was his own mate, though he knew wholeheartedly that it was his lost love who had seemingly died years before. The younger slayer had even gone so far as to push his sent all over the girl in an attempt to ward others off.

Lot of good that did, Cobra thought with a dry chuckle and a sinister smirk.

He'd scented that the two weren't meant for each other from the beginning, there being a certain way that two people's scents complimented one another when they were a good match. Salamander's ash scent clashed far too much with the scent that belonged to Lucy Heartfilia, it overpowered her and overwhelmed the senses.

No, his scent worked well with the girl who had apparently been trapped on another world- that slightly dewy smell that tempered down the sharp edge of his own smell. It was a perfect blend that made being around the two of them slightly more bearable, even if the thoughts running through their minds wasn't in the least bit bearable.

Lucy had a light, teasing coconut scent that filled the senses and teased one with promise of joy and happiness when she was around. It was calming, relaxing even the tense man who now walked in the same city as she was supposedly living in, searching for a trace of the woman as he wound down the straight and narrow streets.

He knew now that his own almond scent twined beautifully with Lucy's scent, complimenting the coconut and tempering it down so it didn't overwhelm others the way Salamander's had when he'd been scent-marking her. That was his own satisfaction in knowing that he had something that the Fire Dragon Slayer didn't.

A familiar sound caught his attention and Cobra turned to see the woman he'd been searching long and hard for sitting atop a bell tower in the distance, her gossamer hair dancing in the heavy wind from being so far up above the ground.

His breath nearly hitched when he noticed her sitting up there above the city, appearing almost like an angel as her pale skin and golden hair shined in the moonlight. He could only stare for a moment until he heard the faint strumming of her soul, the errant thoughts reaching his ears from so far away had his brow drawing together as he slowly walked towards where she was.

 _ **'No one will miss me.'**_

This made Cobra growl in irritation at the redheaded psycho thinking that Lucy would be better off without her friends. They'd abandoned her and she felt that no one cared because of that small little deed, those closest to her simply vanishing without so much as a word.

Cobra smiled at her thought process, though. She was truly much more intelligent than most would expect from the busty blonde variety of woman, something that he admired in secret. She worked through her problems in her own time, often drawing out the best conclusions that would work out for everyone involved.

She was thinking through what would happen if she were to take her life, her mind running through a list of everyone she knew as she went along. It made him frown when he immediately scratched off her former team as people who would miss her, deeming them as having forgotten about her- which, wasn't really too far from the truth when it came to Erza as the woman rarely thought about much else besides Jellal and strawberry cake.

He looked up at her as he slowly meandered his way to the bell tower, taking his time as he knew that she would come down soon, her soul slowly relaxing and telling him that she was removing the possibility of suicide from her mind completely.

Cobra smirked as she turned to the railing, doing exactly as he'd predicted, and made like she was about to climb down from the tower to head home and begin mending fences with those who she knew still cared about her. She was considering joining Sabertooth, which worked for him as he now worked closely with them to take down dark guilds since the end of Fairy Tail had stopped that particular partnership.

Sabertooth had stepped in and welcomed Crime Sorcerie in with open arms, helping them by giving them a place to stay when in the area and dropping hints at where they'd heard some nasty characters were out working. It was a good deal as the rogue mages repaid their kindness by working around the guild, oftentimes staying around a few days longer to help finish anything that was currently in progress.

Yes, Bright Eyes joining Sabertooth would only work in his favor.

A sharp cry broke him out of his reverie, making his eye go wide as he watched the small woman's body get hit by a particularly hard gust of wind, sending her falling back. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched her reach out to grasp helplessly for the railing, pillar, anything that would prevent her plummet to the solid ground below.

Cobra took off at a dead sprint as she fell, her scream echoing in his mind as her lovely orchestra broke out into harsh squeals of violins that had his draconic side roaring in fear as she fell from so high up. The dragon within him thrashing around and urging him to run faster so that he ight save her.

He let out a roar as she landed on the ground, her body laying in a crumpled heap, the thud and crack of her bones being crushed nearly making him vomit as he quickly moved over to gently lift her body into his arms. An errant tear leaked from his eye, the first tear he had shed in many, many years as he held the body of what was supposed to be his mate within his arms.

Cobra heard her labored breathing and nearly let out a gasp of relief, only for it to be halted in his throat when she coughed, blood coming out of her mouth to spatter on his chest and dribble down her chin. He couldn't help but feel the dread washing through him as her brown eyes opened slightly to peer up at him and the tiniest smile spread over her face.

"Co-bra," She wheezed out, coughing once more.

The slayer hushed her, brushing the hair from her eyes and placing a gentle kiss to her brow. "I'm so fucking sorry I didn't come to you sooner, Bright Eyes," He nearly sobbed behind his words, his heart breaking into a million pieces when she made a sound that could possibly have been laughter.

 ** _'Thank you for being here, anyways.'_**

He nodded dumbly, resting his forehead to the blonde's and sighing heavily. It would be his luck that he would lose her just as he was going to accept the fact that she was his mate. Such a cruel bitch that fate was, really.

Lucy let out a coughing fit, more blood spattering them both as he struggled not to move her too much. He knew it was too late to find help, she was far beyond that as her soul's orchestra began it's slow, calming, descent into nothingness. It was all he could do to simply hold her in her final moments and be sure she knew he would have been there for her if he could have to prevent this.

 _ **'Cobra, I'm so tired.'**_

He sniffled lightly closing his eye as he rested his forehead against hers, not caring for the fact that blood seeped into every stitch of the clothing he wore. "Sleep, Lucy," He struggled not to sob as his tears mixed with the blood on his face. "I'm not going anywhere."

 _ **'I wish I could have loved someone like you.'**_

The slayer let out a deafening roar of anguish as her final thought rang through his head, the last notes of her soul ticking off into the abyss as her heart stilled. His heart giving out as he knew that this was what happened when a slayer lost their mate after accepting the bond existed.

This was why he had been okay with her leaving, the only reason that he would have accepted her fate at any point in his life. It was the small fact that he knew his slayer genetic makeup wouldn't let him literally live without her, and that was okay with him because he didn't want to.

Cobra slumped forward as his heart failed, giving one last jerk in his chest before stilling forever. After everything he'd done, he was finally dying next to the one woman who would have accepted him for who he was, the one person in the world that he would have gladly died for.

And that was okay, because he was only human, after all.


	4. Alternate Ending

**A/N;** _My beta reader who is a very close friend of mine was soooo mad at me for the ending to this story and I had to write an alternate ending for her to be happy! This one is for you (Though you aren't on this site) Thunder2113! Love you, bb!_

 _{Skip down to the bold text unless you want to read the first 3/4 of the last chapter. I wrote the ending to still tie into the last chapter and only changed the ending!}_

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Cobra stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked, his single violet eye narrowed as he thought about what Jellal had told him. The damn blueberry was too fucking observant for his liking, knowing exactly why the slayer was on edge the past three months, especially after seeing the sword happy psychopath show up without the bubbly blonde with her.

She'd told them about the disbandment of Fairy Tail and how everyone had gone their separate ways. The beginning of a new era, she'd called it as she had smiled that disgustingly sweet smile at her gushing blue haired counterpart.

Cobra couldn't help but ask about the blonde, the one whose face had kept him awake at night more times than he'd care to admit. Her smiling face and bright chocolate colored eyes filling his dreams as he heard the glorious symphony that was her soul. It was his favorite sound, which was saying something when speaking to someone with sound magic.

What had the redhead said? Oh, right. Lucy was better off without the guild because she wouldn't have them holding her back from improvement by coddling her any longer.

What a crock of shit that was, Cobra thought grimly as he walked along the streets of Crocus in his irritable state. That was a lame excuse used to abandon someone who very obviously needed those precious few that had wormed their way into the Stellar Mage's heart that, similar to her magic, was held under lock and key.

The slayer turned down another street, silently hoping he would hear the blonde's soul and that perfectly tuned orchestra once again. It was the reason he was in this windy as fuck city, risking everything by even being within the walls of the capitol when he was a wanted man.

You see, Cobra had taken a long time himself to admit he needed someone, desperately. He couldn't help that the blonde filled his every thought, even when he was bombarded with sounds, as he was now, in this very moment.

Her orchestra had resonated with him from the moment he'd first laid eyes upon her, had made him want to rip her out of that godforsaken clock and run off with her far away from Midnight, barbarian-style. It had taken everything in his power not to do just that, honestly, as he'd forced himself to walk away from her and attempted to tune out the heart wrenching harmony that was her soul as she'd cried out in fear.

He could finally admit to himself what she was to him, had heard within the Salamander's soul that he was hoping the blonde was his own mate, though he knew wholeheartedly that it was his lost love who had seemingly died years before. The younger slayer had even gone so far as to push his sent all over the girl in an attempt to ward others off.

Lot of good that did, Cobra thought with a dry chuckle and a sinister smirk.

He'd scented that the two weren't meant for each other from the beginning, there being a certain way that two people's scents complimented one another when they were a good match. Salamander's ash scent clashed far too much with the scent that belonged to Lucy Heartfilia, it overpowered her and overwhelmed the senses.

No, his scent worked well with the girl who had apparently been trapped on another world- that slightly dewy smell that tempered down the sharp edge of his own smell. It was a perfect blend that made being around the two of them slightly more bearable, even if the thoughts running through their minds wasn't in the least bit bearable.

Lucy had a light, teasing coconut scent that filled the senses and teased one with promise of joy and happiness when she was around. It was calming, relaxing even the tense man who now walked in the same city as she was supposedly living in, searching for a trace of the woman as he wound down the straight and narrow streets.

He knew now that his own almond scent twined beautifully with Lucy's scent, complimenting the coconut and tempering it down so it didn't overwhelm others the way Salamander's had when he'd been scent-marking her. That was his own satisfaction in knowing that he had something that the Fire Dragon Slayer didn't.

A familiar sound caught his attention and Cobra turned to see the woman he'd been searching long and hard for sitting atop a bell tower in the distance, her gossamer hair dancing in the heavy wind from being so far up above the ground.

His breath nearly hitched when he noticed her sitting up there above the city, appearing almost like an angel as her pale skin and golden hair shined in the moonlight. He could only stare for a moment until he heard the faint strumming of her soul, the errant thoughts reaching his ears from so far away had his brow drawing together as he slowly walked towards where she was.

'No one will miss me.'

This made Cobra growl in irritation at the redheaded psycho thinking that Lucy would be better off without her friends. They'd abandoned her and she felt that no one cared because of that small little deed, those closest to her simply vanishing without so much as a word.

Cobra smiled at her thought process, though. She was truly much more intelligent than most would expect from the busty blonde variety of woman, something that he admired in secret. She worked through her problems in her own time, often drawing out the best conclusions that would work out for everyone involved.

She was thinking through what would happen if she were to take her life, her mind running through a list of everyone she knew as she went along. It made him frown when he immediately scratched off her former team as people who would miss her, deeming them as having forgotten about her- which, wasn't really too far from the truth when it came to Erza as the woman rarely thought about much else besides Jellal and strawberry cake.

He looked up at her as he slowly meandered his way to the bell tower, taking his time as he knew that she would come down soon, her soul slowly relaxing and telling him that she was removing the possibility of suicide from her mind completely.

Cobra smirked as she turned to the railing, doing exactly as he'd predicted, and made like she was about to climb down from the tower to head home and begin mending fences with those who she knew still cared about her. She was considering joining Sabertooth, which worked for him as he now worked closely with them to take down dark guilds since the end of Fairy Tail had stopped that particular partnership.

Sabertooth had stepped in and welcomed Crime Sorcerie in with open arms, helping them by giving them a place to stay when in the area and dropping hints at where they'd heard some nasty characters were out working. It was a good deal as the rogue mages repaid their kindness by working around the guild, oftentimes staying around a few days longer to help finish anything that was currently in progress.

Yes, Bright Eyes joining Sabertooth would only work in his favor.

A sharp cry broke him out of his reverie, making his eye go wide as he watched the small woman's body get hit by a particularly hard gust of wind, sending her falling back. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched her reach out to grasp helplessly for the railing, pillar, anything that would prevent her plummet to the solid ground below.

* * *

 _ **NEW ENDING BEGINNING**_

* * *

Cobra took off at a dead sprint as she fell, her scream echoing in his mind as her lovely orchestra broke out into harsh squeals of violins that had his draconic side roaring in fear as she fell from so high up. The dragon within him thrashing around and urging him to run faster so that he might save her.

He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, using everything within himself to get to her in time. Giving one powerful jump, Cobra flew through the air, catching her falling body and cradling her into his chest as he tucked himself around her in a protective cocoon.

His back hit the pavement hard, sending him rolling as gravel bit into any exposed skin that it could reach. Cobra struggled to keep ahold of Lucy's small body as they rolled, knowing she was getting scraped up no matter what he did to stop it.

They finally rolled to a stop and Cobra groaned slightly before sitting up and checking over his precious cargo for any damage. He sighed in relief- in his mind, anyways- when he only saw the slightest of scrapes on her legs where he hadn't been able to block the damage done.

Lucy's brown eyes opened up and he resisted the urge to smile as those eyes locked onto his face, tears welling up and spilling over a bit. "Cobra?" She asked almost disbelievingly, her hand tentatively reaching up to touch his face.

 _ **'Please, tell me this is real and that I'm not dead.'**_

"It's real, Bright Eyes," The slayer said, relenting as he gave her a small smile.

She let out a choked sob as she buried her face into his chest, her tears seeping through the fabric of his shirt as he held her in the street, being the buffer between her frail body and the bitter cold. He heard her soul rising in a wonderful harmony that had his eyes closing and a content smile forming on his face at the beauty in the sound.

 _ **'Don't let me be alone.'**_

Cobra's eye snapped open to see Lucy looking up at him hopefully, eyes shining in hope as if she knew what she was to him. "I'm not letting you be alone ever again," He promised seriously before capturing her lips with his own.

Cobra was happy to have this chance to be the one to save her in every possible way because he was only human, after all.

* * *

 **A/N;** _Please, feel free to tell me which ending you liked better! I enjoy happy endings but honestly I personally feel that this story is meant to be a tragedy. Thuder had other ideas, though! Until next time~_


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